


Nothing's As Sweet As Super Soldiers In Love

by heartsdesire456



Category: Captain America (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Adorable, Bucky Barnes Feels, Domestic, Domestic Fluff, Fluff, M/M, Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Social Media, Steve Rogers and the 21st Century, True Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-26
Updated: 2015-03-26
Packaged: 2018-03-19 17:26:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,715
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3618150
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heartsdesire456/pseuds/heartsdesire456
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Informally titled: Bucky Barnes Loves The 21st Century Almost As Much As He Loves Steve Rogers</p><p> </p><p>  <i>“Captain America’s mystery lover! That’s what everybody’s talking about.” </i></p><p> </p><p>  <i>Bucky turned around as soon as he heard ‘Captain America’, only to see Tony had on some entertainment news report and his latest photo of sleeping Steve was flashed up on the screen beside the person talking. “Hey, what’s that?” he asked, hopping over the back of the couch to land beside Stark.</i></p><p> </p><p>  <i>“Your Cap lovin’ gone viral, I guess,” Tony said, turning up the volume.</i></p><p> </p><p>  <i>“Rumors spread like wildfire with the first photo of Steve Rogers, Captain America himself, was posted to a comically named Instagram called ‘GodBlessAmerica36’.”</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	Nothing's As Sweet As Super Soldiers In Love

**Author's Note:**

> This literally started all because I saw [this post on tumblr](http://xxxxxx6x.tumblr.com/post/113693167324/i-add-a-begining-and-an-end-so-it-is-the-whole) and thought 'awwww imagine if Big Hero 6 was still a movie and it was recovered!Bucky's favorite movie and he bugged Steve into cuddling and watching it with him?!
> 
> ... and this happened. 
> 
> Idek dude.

“Hey Steve!”

Steve tried to ignore Bucky and continue typing up his paperwork to give to Pepper so she could give it to the Stark Industries board members and explain why exactly the corporate plane had damage to the wing after he crashed into it with the team Quinjet. 

“Steve, Steve, Steve, Steve, Steve-“

Steve let out a sigh and turned around to look at the couch Bucky was hanging over the back of, arms crossed over the back with his chin resting on his folded arms. “What, damn it?”

Bucky gave him an innocent little smile (Steve knew better than to fall for it) and widened his eyes. “Steve, wanna watch a movie with me?” he asked, and Steve gave him a flat look.

“Do you not see what I’m going?” he asked and Bucky gave him an exaggerated pout.

“But _Steeeeve_ ,” he complained. 

“No!” Steve argued. “It’s your own fault I’m stuck doing this instead of watching a movie with you-“

“But I’m _bored_ ,” Bucky groaned, flopping backwards on the couch, disappearing from Steve’s view. Steve could see him kicking his leg up over the back of the couch with a huff, though. “I’m not allowed in the range, and I’m not allowed in the gym, and Bruce told me to fuck off when I asked him to teach me things,” he complained.

Steve snorted. “Watch a movie on your own then.”

Bucky sat up again and gave Steve a teasing pout. “But I wanna watch a movie with my best pal, not alone-“

“Then you shouldn’t have convinced me to steal the Quinjet,” Steve said and Bucky rolled his eyes. 

“Steve, I didn’t ‘convince’ you-“

“You did too, you always get me in trouble and then act like you don’t-“

Bucky gaped. “That’s a flat out lie, Steven.” He hopped up to stand on his knees on the couch, leaning over the back. “You always get _me_ in trouble, you come up with dumb ideas and I go along with them-“

“You suggested you knew how to land the Quinjet when I only know how to _fly_ it and then you lied about that!” Steve argued and Bucky rolled his eyes.

“I did know how to land it, you just suck at listening to instructions,” he said as if explaining to a small child. “C’mon, Stevie,” he groaned. “You’re not still mad at me for _that_ -“

“Hell yeah I’m still mad at you.” Steve turned back to the laptop. “I’m the one that has to face Pepper about it.”

Bucky made a face. “It’s only cause I told her to stop lookin’ at your ass and she hates me for embarrassing her. You’d think dating Tony Stark, she’d never get embarrassed about anything, nonetheless getting caught lookin’ at a guys ass.” He shrugged, looking out the window. “I’m not embarrassed about lookin’ at a guys ass.” He sighed dramatically, pouting some as he looked out the window. “I wish I could go outside,” he decided and Steve rolled his eyes.

“You know you can’t go out alone, we’ve explained it-“

Bucky made an exaggerated whine and slumped so far over the back of the couch his hands laid uselessly on the floor. “I know, I know, ‘mass hysteria’, ‘people will wanna arrest you’, ‘can’t stand the thought of you on trial for terrorism’, blah blah blah.” He apparently decided to be a complete child, in Steve’s opinion, and allowed himself to slide all the way over the back of the couch and rolled head over heels to lay on the floor, splayed out on his back. “It’s like living with my parents all over again. I can’t do anything without getting’ in trouble.” He turned his head to look at Steve upside down. “I’m a god damn master assassin, the guy people have nightmares about, I should be the one people are scared of, not the one that gets in trouble for havin’ some fun.”

Steve couldn’t help the way he smiled at Bucky’s childish behavior. “Bucky, we all know you’re not the Winter Soldier anymore. Nobody’s scared of you. And you’re not a child that’s grounded, Buck.” He gave him an apologetic look. “It’s for your own safety, you know that, right? We just want you to be safe.”

Bucky puffed out his cheeks as he took a deep breath and then let out in a huff. “Yeah, yeah.” He reached out and curled his hand around Steve’s ankle beside the leg of the chair. “I know, Pal. I know.” He stroked at Steve’s anklebone absently. “I’m just so bored. Swear to God, I near bout miss working at the docks I’m so bored.”

Steve sighed. “Okay, give me another ten or fifteen minutes and we can watch a movie, okay?” he asked and Bucky smiled up at him, eyes twinkling happily. Steve rolled his eyes. “You’re gonna be the death of me.”

Bucky shrugged. “As long as you’re not the death of yourself again, you stupid Punk,” he said in a threatening tone. Steve just rolled his eyes, because this was an old argument by now and Bucky just loved reminding Steve that he still hadn’t forgiven him for crashing the plane in 1945 or stopping fighting the Winter Soldier in the carrier that was crashing. 

“Sure, Buck. Whatever you say,” he said absently, going back to typing.

When Steve finished, Bucky wasted no time hopping up and grabbing him – without waiting on him to grab shoes – and dragging him out of their apartment. They went up to the main floor so they could use the large screen in the team’s group living room.

Steve went to the kitchen to go get popcorn and something for them to drink while Bucky got JARVIS to find them whatever movie he wanted to watch. When he returned and sat down on the couch, Bucky wasted no time flopping down practically in his lap, poking at Steve’s middle until Steve rolled his eyes and turned to lean back against the arm and spread his legs out on the couch so that Bucky could sit in the V of his legs and lean back against his chest. “You’re so pushy, it’s amazing I indulge you,” Steve said, obediently putting the popcorn in Bucky’s lap.

Bucky grabbed a handful and shoved it in his mouth, mumbling around the popcorn when he told Steve, “Eh aight ooo ub eh.”

Steve snorted, rolling his eyes. “The fact I know you said ‘yeah right, you love it’ proves I’m insane.”

Bucky shushed him and shoved a handful of popcorn into Steve’s mouth to silence him. “JARVIS, play please,” he said, resting his head back against Steve’s shoulder.

“Right away, Sir.” Steve wasn’t surprised when the movie started and a familiar (by now) robot fight was on the screen.

“Oh joy, for the fortieth time-“

“Shhh,” Bucky hissed, shoving more popcorn in Steve’s mouth, ignoring his squawk of indignation. “Shut it, you love this movie, don’t even lie.” Steve just chewed the ridiculous amount of popcorn in his mouth and stayed quiet.

When the popcorn was gone, Bucky moved to put the bowl on the table and Steve slid down, knowing already what Bucky wanted him to do. Bucky gave him a surprised but pleased look when he sat back and turned to lay on Steve’s chest, pretty much becoming a human blanket. He tucked his head under Steve’s chin and relaxed with a sigh, hands tucked under Steve’s sides and their legs slotted together. Steve smiled and pressed his face lips to Bucky’s hair, one arm absently rested on Bucky’s back and the other resting on his forearm down at his side. 

When it got to the part where they were working on stuff in the garage, Steve snorted into Bucky’s hair. “You like this because you’re a giant nerd,” he teased and Bucky huffed, poking him in the ribs.

“At least I’m not a Punk like you,” he countered and Steve grinned, twirling a piece of Bucky’s hair.

“You’re a big nerd. You want to build robots like Tony but he won’t let you so you do other nerd stuff with Bruce.”

Bucky leaned into his touch and hummed. “Yeah, yeah. You’re just a big dumb lunk. You wouldn’t know science if it bit you on the ass-“

“Science made that ass, thank you very much,” Steve teased, looking at the piece of hair curling around his finger. Bucky’s hair was shorter than it had been when he was the Winter Soldier, but it was longer than when he cut it all off really short during his recovery. It was long enough to part on the side and style when Bucky wanted, but it was usually just fluffy and soft and swept across his forehead whichever way he pushed it when he shoved it out of his eyes. 

Bucky leaned into his touch, making a happy little sound. “Gonna put me to sleep.”

Steve smiled softly. “Maybe then I can stop watching a children’s movie,” he whispered playfully, pressing his lips to the top of Bucky’s head before he turned to the TV and watched the movie.

Bucky got really quiet when the building exploded, just like he always did when they watched that movie. Steve could feel it when Bucky turned his head and wiped his eyes on Steve’s shirt. Steve rubbed at Bucky’s back, not caring if he was embarrassed. He felt a tight chest himself when he watched the despondency of the boy grieving on the screen. Every time they watched that damn movie, he remembered how it felt when Bucky died. How much it hurt to breathe for the first few days.

“I don’t know what that feels like.” Steve startled slightly as Bucky spoke. Bucky shrugged, not looking at Steve. “I was sad when your Ma died, but it was mostly short-lived cause I was worried about ‘what now’ since you were alone. And I was gone already before anybody died on me.”

Steve smiled sadly. “This really shows a good job of how it feels,” he admitted softly. He rubbed at Bucky’s back as he spoke, needing to feel he was there. “I wasn’t allowed to sit around like he does when my mom died or when you fell, but that’s what it was like. Didn’t wanna eat. Didn’t want to go to work when it was my mom, didn’t want to have to tell people what to do when it was you. Nothing tasted like much of nothing when I did eat. There was this… weight.” He smiled sadly. “Felt like something heavy was on my chest, like I was having a constant asthma attack. Breathing felt like a struggle. Doing my duty was hard after you. But just like with him,” He nodded at the screen. “I had a score to settle so I got back to it. It hurt, but it felt good to make the bastards who took you from me pay for it.”

Bucky shifted and lifted up just long enough to look at Steve’s face. He smiled sadly, looking him in the eyes. “Sorry you didn’t have a big, fluffy robot to make you feel better,” he said, and Steve shrugged with a small smile.

“It’s all in the past now.” He glanced at the screen. “It’s about to get funny,” he warned Bucky, who grinned and rolled his eyes before shuffling back to lay his head on Steve’s chest.

“You love this movie just as much as I do, don’t even joke,” Bucky teased, snuggling back into his comfortable spot again.

Steve closed his eyes, settling in to listen to Bucky’s chuckles and even tiny giggles when things got too funny for him to hold in. Holding Bucky and listening to him laugh was worth watching a kids movie yet again, because he sure didn’t know a better way to spend an afternoon than with a happy Bucky in his arms. 

Of course, his quiet afternoon was ruined by the sound of the elevator opening and the sound of Tony Stark’s obnoxious complaining into his phone. “Whatever, Pepper, I don’t caaaaare.” He came around the couch and laughed at Bucky and Steve. “Awwww look, they’re cuddling!”

Bruce came walking behind him, too quiet for Steve to have noticed, and sighed. “Tony, don’t be a jerk.”

Bucky glared up at him. “Yeah, Tony, shut it or I’ll punch you. Now fuck off, we’re watching a movie.”

Tony snorted. “Yeah, an animated kids movie-“

“Fuck off, I like robots and it’s funny,” Bucky complained. “Now shut it!” Steve glared over Bucky’s head at Tony, lifting his head to mouth, ‘I’ll kill you’. Tony just wiggled his eyebrows at him. “I can tell you two are making faces,” Bucky warned, poking Steve in the side. “Kill Tony later. I’m not letting you up.”

Steve smiled at Bucky’s hair. “What if I have to pee?”

“Too bad, you can hold it,” Bucky grumbled. “Now shut up or I’ll post a picture of you sleeping on the internet,” he threatened.

Steve chuckled and shook his head but pressed his lips to Bucky’s hair. “Alright, Buck, I’ll kill Tony later. You can watch.”

“Hot,” Bucky said, and Steve went back to watching the movie with one last wave of his middle finger at Tony.

~

Steve woke up to the sound of a fake-shutter and he immediately opened his eyes to see Bucky straddling him with his phone in his hands. Steve groaned, covering his face, but going by Bucky’s chuckles it was too late. “Buckyyyyy,” he whined and Bucky cackled. “Don’t show that to anybody.”

“Too, late!” Bucky turned the phone around and showed Steve the photo posted on Instagram.

Steve blinked to clear his eyes and groaned. “Buck, Pepper’s mad at us already. Last time you made an Instagram you got yelled at and I got yelled at for letting you-“

“Yeah but you don’t ‘let’ me do things,” Bucky argued, typing away on his phone. “I’m not your property, Stevie, you don’t get to make me do anything. So if she’s mad at you, it’s her own dumb fault.” He finished typing and smirked. “They’re askin’ who I am and how the hell I got a photo of Captain America asleep when I’m clearly on top of him.” He wiggled his eyebrows. “If only they knew what other stuff I’ve been doin’ on top of you.”

Steve laughed, rolling his eyes. He put his hands on Bucky’s thighs and sat up, leaning in to steal a kiss. “Pretty sure Tony still has delusions of me being a virgin, so it wouldn’t just be strangers on the internet,” he joked and Bucky grinned. Steve couldn’t help but love the way Bucky’s eyes crinkled when he smiled. Steve raised a hand to touch the lines around Bucky’s eyes, smiling back at him. “So gorgeous,” he murmured, and Bucky’s smirk widened.

“Not so bad yourself, Punk,” he grumbled, pressing his lips to Steve’s sweetly.

Sure enough, their entirely innocent kiss was interrupted by a loud, “Whoa! Cap’s being deflowered in the living room! AVERT YOUR EYES, PEOPLE!”

Steve dropped back onto the couch with a heavy sigh and Bucky rolled his eyes, getting off of Steve to stand up and stretch. “Stark, not a single person in this building wants to have sex in front of you, not even Pepper,” he said, and Steve laughed when he sat up and saw the offended look on Tony’s face.

“Hey, she’s having sex with me, so that kinda requires me being there.”

Bucky shrugged. “Said she doesn’t want to, not that she doesn’t do it anyways. She’s gotta get it where she can and if you’re the only choice, well my heart goes out to the poor woman,” he said as he patted Tony mockingly on the arm as he passed him to the kitchen. “I smell Bruce’s food!”

Steve grinned mockingly at Tony as he hopped up and followed Bucky. Bucky hopped onto the counter beside where Bruce was mixing something and parted his knees so that Steve could lean back against the counter between his legs. “Is it that potato stuff I like?” Steve asked, peeking over Bruce’s shoulder to see.

Bruce rolled his eyes. “Yes, Steve, it’s that potato stuff you like. And the chicken stuff Tony likes.” He glanced at Bucky with a judging look. “Why do you keep bothering Tony? He’s nice enough to let you both live here.”

Bucky smirked, shaking his head. “Bruce, dude, he brings it on himself! He keeps making virgin jokes about Steve – for no reason other than Natasha making one joke – and gets obnoxious about the jokes about us being too old to use the internet.” He draped his arms around Steve’s shoulders, waving a hand. “And, you know, he’s Pepper’s boyfriend and Pepper’s kind of a pain my ass.”

Steve groaned. “Bucky, she’s a nice lady-“

“Who keeps trying to run my life! I get it, technically I’m here to be monitored, but Steve, she sucks the fun out of everything! I have no idea how she dates Tony Stark. That guy is way more trouble-causing than me!”

Steve sighed, laying his head back on Bucky’s shoulder. “Bucky, she’s a very important person stuck doing Avengers managing until she can trust someone else to deal with us. It comes with the territory of living in her building and if we didn’t live in her building, you’d be in a cell somewhere and I’d be going out of my mind trying to rescue you,” he said for the hundredth time.

“Yeah, but it’s still like living with my _mother_ , Steve.” He huffed, slumping against Steve. “She won’t even let me set up an Avengers Official twitter account,” he said with a pout.

Bruce laughed, shaking his head. “How long would it take for you to post tweets with cursing in it and get the Avengers negative publicity if you did?”

Steve shot Bucky a look. “This is the third time you’ve made an Instagram for her to make you delete.” He saw Bruce give him a look and nodded. “Yes, he made another.”

Bucky narrowed his eyes at Steve. “I know about your secret art blog, Steven, and I will tell on you if you tell on me.”

Steve gave him an innocent smile. “Dunno what you mean, Bucky-“

“There was a sketch of my abs posted on there, Rogers, I know my own damn body,” he said with a playful grin.

Bruce chuckled. “You two act like the average young adult to be from the forties,” he mused and Bucky shrugged.

“This stuff is all sweet, man. Science is always awesome. Technology is great!”

Steve nodded seriously. “You have no idea how much of a nerd Bucky was even then. He read every issue of Popular Mechanics he could get his hands on growing up and he’d bug me while I was trying to hear the game on the radio about some dumb invention-“

“Inventions aren’t _dumb_ , Stevie!” Bucky whined, thumping him on the chest. “You’re the stupid ass that let a fella experiment on you and you think inventions are dumb. Man, the crap that comes out of your mouth,” he complained. He gestured to Steve as he looked at Bruce. “You see? You see what I put up with for so long? It’s insane to think I fell in love with him like this. It’s insulting how dumb my heart was.”

Steve just shrugged. “Really it was pretty dumb,” he agreed. “I wasn’t even attractive. At least I fell for the best lookin’ guy in Brooklyn,” he said matter-of-factly. 

Bruce grinned at the death glare Bucky gave him for that. “Gotta remember, Steve. Some people who love you see you differently than you see yourself. I mean hell, even I met a girl that loved me one time,” he said, gesturing to himself. “I’m a hobbit.” 

“Who’s a hobbit? Are we picking on Steve before he was Captain America?” Tony asked as he came through the door with Clint and Natasha. “We have visitors, by the way.”

“No, I was describing myself,” Bruce explained. “Steve-“

“Whoa, Steve called you a hobbit?” Tony asked, rolling his eyes. “Bruce, you’re a hot potato, not a hobbit. If I wasn’t straight, I’d have you right here on this island,” he said and Bruce made a face.

“And there goes my appetite,” he joked, making Steve snicker and Bucky nearly cackle.

Bucky thumped Steve again. “Dumbass was calling me dumb for thinking he was gorgeous when he was my tiny best friend. Because he’s stupid,” he added, glaring at the side of Steve’s head.

Tony raised an eyebrow, leaning on the island. “Oh yeah? You thought he was attractive all skinny and weird lookin’? I’ve seen the photos. He looked weird.”

Steve rolled his eyes at Bucky’s offended noise. “Bucky, do remember this is the one that refuses to accept that I’m not a virgin. His opinion doesn’t matter,” he soothed.

Tony nodded to him. “Because you blush when there are tits on TV. Nobody that’s not a virgin blushes at that.”

“I don’t have to be a virgin to not see naked women very often, Tony,” he said, giving him a pointed look.

Tony didn’t seem to understand until Natasha rolled her eyes. “He only likes cock, Stark. He isn’t used to naked women because he only ever sees men naked. Most female nudity he’s probably ever seen up close is me in my underwear.”

Steve smirked. “Actually, the girls I toured with for the USO back in the 40s figured out I wasn’t interested – didn’t say anything, thankfully – and didn’t bother making me leave before they changed. I saw lots of women in their underwear all the time.”

“And I bet you still blushed every time, didn’t you?” Bucky teased knowingly. “Steve just blushes easy.” He leered at Tony, wrapping his legs around Steve from behind. “Should see how red he gets when I’m on my knees,” he said with a filthy lick of his lips. 

Steve felt heat creeping into his cheeks and elbowed Bucky lightly. “Bucky!” he hissed and Bucky snorted, hugging him as he laughed into his neck.

Natasha rolled her eyes. “Hilarious, James.”

Bucky grinned, kissing Steve’s jaw with a smack. “Besides, you’re half-right, Tony. He was a virgin when you met ‘em.”

“BUCKY!” Steve cried, blushing as he turned and gaped at him. “Don’t _admit_ that!”

“What? No shame in it, Stevie.” Bucky kissed his cheek again. “You were waitin’ on me to stop being so scared of the fellas finding out if we did it during the war, then I went and died on you, then you died on everybody, and then when he met you, you’d just come back. It’s nothing to be ashamed of, it’s just how shit happened.”

Natasha blinked. “Well damn, Steve, if I’d know that I’d have tried to fuck you instead of set you up with girls I know.”

Steve gaped. “Ew, _why_?! You’re my friend!”

She shrugged, giving him a smirk. “Yeah but how cool would it be to be able to say ‘I took Captain America’s virginity’?” she teased.

“It’s awesome,” Bucky said in a cheerful tone. “Sad, cause Stevie didn’t get over me and move on and be happy and stuff, but still. It means Steve’s mine after all that time.” He gave Steve a loving look when he met his eyes. “Loved you since I was sixteen years old and will get to still love you when I’m seventy.” 

Steve laced his fingers through Bucky’s on his middle. “If I’d met somebody else it would’ve just been really shitty of me, cause it’s hard to really love somebody when I decided a looong time ago that I’d never love anybody but you, Buck.”

Bucky chuckled and pressed his lips to Steve’s, eyes falling shut. “Mmm, yeah, true. Still, you could’ve at least had sex with someone, I mean damn, Steve. Don’t have to be celibate to pine after me.”

Steve snickered. “I was depressed. Didn’t have much of a sex drive.”

“Annnnd now I’m listening to geriatric old men talk about their sex drive, thanks for telling me to come visit, Nat,” Clint said as he made a face and passed Stark to go to the refrigerator.

“Oh please,” she called after him. “Like you’ve never had sex with an old man before,” she teased and Clint flipped her off. 

Tony’s smile grew evil and he turned to Steve and Bucky, but before he could even open his mouth Bucky interrupted. “No, nobody needs Viagra, Stark. If Steve’s sex drive got any higher, I’d need to hire a sex surrogate so my jaw could recuperate,” he said and Steve blushed.

“Buuuckkyy,” he whined, putting a hand over his face.

“Oh I’m not complaining,” Bucky said, wiggling his eyebrows at Stark’s horrified face. “Favorite place in the world is under Steve, closely followed by on my knees between his thighs. But having sex almost every day and sometimes even more than once a day is about as much as even my super soldier enhanced body can take. I love suckin’ your dick, but I’d have no voice at all after a week if you had a crazy sex drive.”

Bruce sighed dramatically, shaking his head. “Oh look, someone’s going to have to take Tony out back and shoot him to put him out of his misery,” he said, looking at the horrified look on Tony’s face.

Natasha laughed darkly. “I volunteer.”

Steve whined, face in his hands. “Kill me too, please.”

~

When Bucky refused to delete his new Instagram, Pepper sat him down and they reached a compromise. Bucky would ONLY post photos of Steve and unidentifiable rooms with nothing Stark affiliated in the photo, he would NOT post phots of himself by any means, he could not tell people who he was or confirm that Bucky Barnes was alive and/or the Winter Soldier that was, technically, a fugitive, and he would refrain from photos of the other Avengers at all costs unless they specifically agreed to it.

After the photo of Steve on the couch went viral, Bucky’s anonymous Instagram, GodBlessAmerica36 (Steve laughed his ass off while the others thought it was ridiculously lame, but then again, Steve always had thought he was a funny guy) picked up a _lot_ of followers. After his second photo of Steve standing in the window looking outside with his morning cup of coffee in nothing but sweatpants, Bucky’s Instagram started getting talked about. 

Steve rolled his eyes at Bucky whenever he saw the phone come out, but Bucky was having fun so he knew Steve was happy about anything that made Bucky happy. Steve was always putting Bucky first and he knew it. 

He was okay with it, though, because he would always put Steve first, too.

~

“Hey Viagra ad on my couch!” Bucky turned his head and looked at Stark from his spot on Steve’s lap. 

“Fuck off, we’re watching baseball,” Steve called, sinking his hand into Bucky’s hair again.

Bucky hummed happily, rubbing his head against Steve’s hand. “Mmmm then when this game ends, I’m gonna prove there’s no dick-pills needed and suck Steve’s dick right here on this couch-“

“Oh no you’re not,” Tony said with a glare. “No sex happens on the public couch. None. Not even me having it.”

Bucky hummed. “But I’m too lazy to go back to our apartment to blow Steve.”

Steve rolled his eyes and leaned his head back to look at Tony. “He’s not going to blow me anywhere in public-“

“But Steeeeeve-“

“My body parts, I get to decide if I wanna pull them out in the lounge. And I don’t,” Steve said, ruffling his hair. “Tonight,” he promised and Bucky sighed, but rolled his eyes and nodded.

“Fine. You’re the one that’s missing out on my mouth on your dick,” he said and Steve smiled, shaking his head. 

He stroked Bucky’s jaw. “I think I can survive. Besides. I’m kinda watching the game.”

Bucky hummed, turning to kiss Steve’s palm. “I bet you can bat one out of the state like this, can’t you?”

Steve hummed. “I haven’t actually tried.”

“I bet I can throw harder than you with my arm,” he said, smirking up at him. “Bet I’d throw a faster ball than anybody.”

Steve narrowed his eyes. “I bet I can throw faster.”

“Whadaya bet?” Bucky asked, wiggling his eyebrows. 

Steve hummed teasingly. “Dunno. Whadaya want?”

Bucky cooed. “Oh baby, you have no idea.” He looked over the back of the couch at Stark. “Hey, you got anything that can check the speed of a baseball throw?”

Tony hummed. “Well maybe? I can recalibrate something into a pitching net.” He shrugged. “Gotta go buy some baseballs though.” He looked around. “Hey J, where does one get baseballs?”

Steve gave him a sad shake of his head as Bucky laid back on his lap. “Useless.”

“Who the hell doesn’t know where to get a baseball?” Bucky demanded, looking offended. “Baseball is the best sport in the world.”

Tony made a face. “A, I hate sports and B, baseball is almost as boring as golf.” Bucky sat up straight and Steve gaped at him. “What?”

“Stevie… did he just trash talk America’s favorite pastime?” Bucky asked, and Steve nodded solemnly.

“He’s dead to us,” Steve said in a grave tone, making Tony roll his eyes.

“Oh come on, it’s a sport-“

“But what about the butts!?” Bucky asked, barely biting back a smile.

Steve grinned, nodding. “Nothing beats baseball butts.”

“I’ve always had this fantasy about Steve in a baseball uniform,” Bucky said with a filthy wink at Steve.

Steve blinked, raising an eyebrow. “Really? Baseball uniform?”

“Damn straight, Baby Doll,” Bucky purred, leaning over to peck his lips. “Even skinny you had a great ass.”

Tony made a face. “Okay, I’m out, gonna go find you baseballs so I don’t have to watch you make out again. It’s terrifying.”

Steve smirked at Bucky and then dragged him onto his lap. Bucky went with it, dramatically kissing Steve as over the top sloppy as he could just to make Tony made horrified sounds as he ran for the elevator. When Tony was gone, Bucky laughed so hard he nearly fell off Steve’s lap.

~

When Stark had everything set up to measure how fast Steve and Bucky could throw baseballs, apparently everybody felt like coming along to watch them. When Bucky got there, swinging his arms to loosen his shoulders and back, he nearly tripped and fell over with a swing because there Steve was, standing talking to Stark wearing baseball pants. “Holy shit, that’s why we’ve found spectators,” Bucky said, and Steve turned and grinned.

“It’s not every day two super soldiers have a pitching contest,” Steve said, being purposefully oblivious. Bucky narrowed his eyes when Steve pulled on a baseball cap and turned around to grab a baseball glove.

Bucky shook his head as he walked over and caught the other glove Stark threw to him. “Thanks, Tony.” 

Steve walked over to the net in front of a sensor and hesitated, throwing the ball into his glove a few times as he turned to Tony. “You sure this won’t go through that net?” he asked.

Tony rolled his eyes. “Buddy, I use this stuff to contain robots. Trust me.”

Bucky pulled out his phone as Steve threw a few practice pitches. He took a photo of Steve winding up, ass facing Bucky’s way, and posted it before shoving his phone in his pocket and going over to take a few warmup pitches as well. 

“Alright ladies and gents,” Clint said, pretending to talk into his beer bottle. “The world record fastball pitch is one-oh-five. Let’s see what a super soldier and a Robocop can do!” The others cheered mockingly and Steve rolled his eyes. “The winner gets… actually I don’t know.” He frowned, dropping the ‘announcer’ voice. “What does the winner get, guys?”

Bucky smirked and wiggled his eyebrows. “If I win, I get to suck Steve’s dick wherever the hell I want to. He wins, we only have sex in the bedroom for a month.”

Clint snorted. “So either way, win or lose, Steve gets a blowjob, it’s just a matter of location?”

Steve grimaced. “You don’t know how much I dislike the thought of someone walking in on me having sex.”

“Or how much I really wish someone could walk in on us having sex,” Bucky said, smirking. “Stevie’s so hot the world needs somebody else besides me to know what he looks like when we’re screwin’. It’s just not right that, quite possibly, I could be the only person to ever see Steve Rogers have an orgasm-“

“I’d be totally fine with that, in fact I hope for this,” Steve said with a longsuffering eye roll that said this was not a new argument. “I had enough people looking at me naked in the past and doing weird science things to my body in rooms full of people, so even when I know nobody’s gonna walk into our apartment without us letting them in, I get paranoid.”

Bruce frowned. “Then why are you making a bet like that? And more importantly, why would you want to make him uncomfortable during sex?” he asked Bucky, who sucked his teeth.

“Cause he’s being dramatic.” He gave Steve a loving look. “He knows if he really didn’t wanna have sex on the living room floor, he could just say no. He just gets all hot and bothered and when I suggest it, he considers ‘what if someone walks in?’ for a split second then says ‘fuck it’ and takes the risk.”

Steve smirked at Bruce. “Also I know I’m gonna win.”

“Ha!” Bucky scoffed, stalking over to him. “You’re goin’ down, Sweetheart.” He leaned in and pecked Steve’s cheek, then slapped his ass. “And then I’ll be goin’ down,” he added, squeezing Steve’s butt cheek before letting him go.

Steve blushed some but shook his head, raising his glove and the ball in it. “Game on.”

~

Steve, unsurprisingly, did win. Apparently super soldier still beat bionic.

Bucky couldn’t be too bothered, though, since he was distracted by the wild amount of comments on the photo of Steve in baseball pants. “Stevie, all these girls wanna touch your butt,” he announced at dinner, shoving his phone at Steve.

Steve rolled his eyes. Pepper sighed, crossing her arms as she looked at him. “Bucky Barnes-“

“Yeah, yeah, ‘swear to God’ and ‘don’t expose yourself’-“ Bruce choked on his water as he fought a laugh and Bucky grinned. “SEE! It isn’t just me!” he said to Pepper defensively. “It’s funny-“

“You’re all children,” she said flatly. She sighed. “I can’t stop you, but if you make a mess of this, you’re stuck fixing it.”

Bucky shrugged. “What’s gonna go wrong with posting pictures of Steve? He’s gorgeous and people love him. It’s a win for everybody.” He cooed. “Awww. Someone commented about how you look so adorable with your little baseball cap. I agree, by the way,” he said, smirking at Steve. “You look like an eager little kid with that hat on. Neck up, it was all ‘Yay, baseball!’ even if neck down was pure sex.”

Steve rolled his eyes but blushed some. “Yeah, well, last time I threw a baseball, you swung a broken broomstick at it,” he said and Bucky leaned over to smack a kiss to his cheek.

“We can play catch later, we’ve got about fifty baseballs left,” he promised, resting his shoulder against Steve’s as he scrolled further through the comments on the photos. Without even looking up he reached over and turned Steve’s plate halfway. “Eat the carrots, Punk,” he said, and Steve sighed as predicted.

“For the last time, Jerk, I don’t like carrots and-“

“And I don’t give a shit if you’re a big, bad super soldier, eat ‘em,” Bucky said, cutting his eyes up from his phone to glare at Steve.

Steve huffed and took the fork he’d set down and went to eating the carrots on his plate. When he got them all down he glared at Bucky. “Happy?” he asked, chewing sullenly.

“Yeah, but don’t talk with your mouth full, Sarah Rogers didn’t raise a kid with manners that bad,” Bucky chastised as he casually put the leftover half of his piece of bread on Steve’s plate, going back to his phone.

“Bucky, stop giving me more food, I’m going to get fat,” Steve said and Bucky snorted.

“Good, cause that small of a waist just ain’t natural, Steve, you’re triangle shaped.” Steve laughed but ate the bread anyways.

Natasha shook her head. “You two are so weird it’s not even funny anymore, just oddly fascinating.”

Clint shrugged. “Lemme guess, leftover habits from when he was tiny?” he asked, and Bucky nodded with a sheepish little shrug. “I get it. My brother always did the same when we were little. He’d give me some of his food when we got fed because I’d cry when I had to go to sleep hungry. Whenever he’s around he still ends up giving me the bigger donut or whatever out of habit.”

Bucky glanced at Steve, smiling faintly. “I worked damn hard to get this punk to live long enough for the SSR to experiment on ‘em. His Ma did the hard work, keeping him alive as a little kid, but once we were livin’ together, we didn’t make near as much as his mother did even combined since he kept losing his jobs and I’d get laid off every once in a while and nurses were always needed. We were lucky to get anything to eat, so whenever we got vegetables, I always made Steve eat most of them cause he was sick all the time and I could live off of bread and water, but he needed the cabbage and carrots, no matter how much he complained.”

Steve grimaced. “I hate cabbage even worse than carrots,” he pointed out and Bucky smirked.

“He refused flat out once and said he’d rather die than eat any more cabbage,” he confided and Steve glared.

“Yeah, and you got so pissed you broke the bedroom door slamming it,” Steve said. “We didn’t have a door on the bedroom for the rest of the time we lived there.”

Bucky shrugged. “Should’ve eat your damn cabbage and not whined about it. I’d worked my ass off to buy it.”

Steve rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah. It’s a good thing you never brought girls home or that would’ve been awkward.” 

“Yeah, like I was gonna get with some girl in our bed,” Bucky joked. “Any girl that made it to our flat would’ve realized what a bum I was anyways.”

Tony raised a hand. “Uh, bed? Singular?” he asked, holding up one finger. “Really?”

Pepper raised an eyebrow. “Thought you said you weren’t a couple back then.”

Steve frowned. “What?”

Bucky laughed at the confused faces. “You realize everybody poor shared a bed with somebody, right?” he asked. “I shared a bed with two sisters when I was living with my parents. Steve’s mom slept on a couch because they couldn’t afford two beds and Steve had the bad back.”

Steve nodded. “Yeah, us sharing a bed wasn’t even a thing,” he said, shrugging. “We were lucky we had an apartment.” He shrugged. “Even if we had two beds, it was too cold in the winter to sleep separate.”

“Damn straight,” Bucky said, sliding his arm around Steve’s shoulders. “You’d have shivered your joints out of alignment without me to keep you warm.” He pressed a kiss to Steve’s jaw. “Stevie fit right in my arms when he was little.” Steve blushed and ducked his head a little. “Curled up behind him and pulled his tiny little body in my arms and he’d fall asleep with me wrapped around him.” Bucky pushed Steve’s hair back away from his forehead with an affectionate look. “We shared a sleeping bag in Europe, too. Steve was just a lot bigger and warmer.”

“Now you just sprawl all over the bed, half on top of me,” Steve teased, tilting his head just enough to lean into Bucky’s fingers on his temple. “If I get back and you’re already in bed, it’s nearly impossible to get in with you.”

Bucky smirked. “Just wake me up and I’d be more than happy to let you get in me-“

“I said _with_ you, stop that,” Steve chastised, pulling away from his hand.

Bucky laughed, winking at Steve. “You know you like it.”

~

When Bucky woke up before Steve – a rarity if he was honest – he smiled as he watched Steve sleeping on the other pillow across from him. He moved to grab his phone from the bedside table and carefully rolled back over to look at Steve. He smiled to himself as he raised the phone and snapped a photo of Steve’s sleep-soft, peaceful face. He didn’t normally leave any sort of comment when he posted a photo, but this time he couldn’t help it.

_It is an incredible privilege to wake up to this sight._

After putting his phone back on the bedside table, he laid back down and faced Steve. He didn’t touch him, even though he wanted to, for fear he’d wake Steve up. He watched him sleeping, looked at his soft, relaxed lips, the hair hanging across his forehead, the fan of his long, beautiful eyelashes across his cheek, and he couldn’t help the part of him that kept whispering, _You shouldn’t have this_.

It was true, really. He by all means shouldn’t have any of it. By all real means, Steve should have never become what fit and healthy, and probably should’ve died of pneumonia the first winter Bucky was gone off to war. Bucky knew he should’ve died during the war. If Steve had never become Captain America, Bucky would’ve died in that factory. Zola’s experimentation may have worked, but at the time, it was more likely that they would kill him than manage to turn him into the Soldier they wanted. Even with Steve being Captain America and saving him, by all rights he should’ve died when he fell from that train and Steve should’ve died when he crashed that plane.

But here he was, lying in a big, warm bed in a giant (to him) apartment with Steve sleeping peacefully across from him seventy years after they both should’ve died. It was the _future_ and he and Steve were living it together. He had suffered so much at the hands of so many and, no, he wasn’t ‘better’, and probably never would be, but he was stable after a long time of struggling, he was as happy as he could ever be, and he was living a dream he’d had ever since he realized how much he loved Steve.

A life where they were in love, openly happy together, and nobody had a goddamn thing to say about it.

Steve stirred and Bucky watched with a tiny smile as Steve’s eyes fluttered some as he slowly woke up. He made a soft little grunt and rubbed his face into the pillow before opening his eyes and looking at Bucky. He blinked a few times before humming sleepily. “’sa matter?”

“Nothing,” Bucky said softly, reaching out now that Steve was awake to curl his hand around Steve’s hip, wiggling closer so he could feel Steve’s body heat. “Just woke up before you did for once,” he all but whispered, pressing a tender kiss to Steve’s nose. “You’re getting’ lazy on me, Punk.”

Steve smiled and made a happy sound. “Think ‘m allowed a lazy day every once in a while.” He shifted and slid his leg between Bucky’s, scooting down enough to lay his head against Bucky’s chest, tugging the covers up around his ears as he nestled against Bucky’s chest. “Didn’t have a bad dream, did you?” he asked and Bucky shook his head, chin nudging Steve’s hair.

“No, I’m fine, Stevie,” he reassured, wrapping his arms around Steve to hold him close. He pressed his lips to Steve’s head and closed his eyes again, stroking his back in slow, even sweeps. “You?” he asked.

Steve made a sleepy little laughing sound and pressed his lips to Bucky’s chest. “‘M always okay when I’m with you, Buck, you know that.”

Bucky couldn’t help the insane wave of emotion that washed over him as Steve’s words, because he knew Steve really meant it. It caused a physical ache in his chest sometimes to think about how much he loved that man. Steve was the best thing God ever put his mind to making, and Bucky would fight anybody that said different. Steve as the essence of everything honorable and good in the world and Bucky was the lucky bastard that got to hold him close when he was warm and snuggly like he was now. 

“I love you, Punk, you know that, right?” Bucky whispered, resting his chin on Steve’s head.

Steve nodded and hummed. “Love you too, Jerk.”

That never failed to make Bucky smile.

~

“Captain America’s mystery lover! That’s what everybody’s talking about.” 

Bucky turned around as soon as he heard ‘Captain America’, only to see Tony had on some entertainment news report and his latest photo of sleeping Steve was flashed up on the screen beside the person talking. “Hey, what’s that?” he asked, hopping over the back of the couch to land beside Stark.

“Your Cap lovin’ gone viral, I guess,” Tony said, turning up the volume.

“Rumors spread like wildfire with the first photo of Steve Rogers, Captain America himself, was posted to a comically named Instagram called ‘GodBlessAmerica36’.”

Tony turned to Bucky, interrupting the guy speaking. “Why thirty-six?” he asked and Bucky smiled bashfully.

“Year I realized I loved him,” he admitted sheepishly. “He was eighteen years old and I was nineteen and he was sick so I went to stay the night with him while his mother had to work and he wasn’t bad sick, he was getting better, so we were sitting on the couch and he was drawing, and he looked up at me and smiled…” Bucky trailed off, shaking his head. “And I thought, ‘God I love him so much’ and I’d never had that thought. I was horrified by some of the thoughts I’d had about him in the past, dirty thoughts, you know? Cause I was terrified somebody would know what I was thinking when I looked at him and I knew it was ‘wrong’, but I realized it wasn’t me being a pervert when I finally connected ‘love’ to what I felt.” He smiled. “I loved him, and how could lovin’ a boy like Stevie be wrong, you know?”

Tony gave him a surprisingly genuine smile and nodded. “Surprisingly forward thinking for someone from the stone age.”

Bucky barked out a laugh, shoving Tony’s shoulder. “Oh shut it.” He smirked. “Besides, I never did care much for the shit the nuns had to say in Sunday school. I figured God was pissed enough at me after all the fast women and cheating at cards down by the docks, what’s one-sided love for a good guy like Steve on top of fornication and cheating while gambling, you know?”

They were interrupted by the TV catching their attention again. “The most shared belief is that the mystery lover is none other than ex-SHIELD agent, and ex-Soviet Spy, Natasha Romanov, one of Captain Rogers’s fellow Avengers.”

Bucky snorted. “Ha! Natasha and Steve. That’s hilarious.”

“Rumors about their alleged relationship have been around ever since she helped Captain Rogers in the fight against HYDRA last year. Whoever it is, as long as she keeps posting photos of Captain America in his down time, we thank you!”

“Welcome, fuckers,” Bucky said with a salute.

Tony snorted. “Maybe I should claim responsibility and really throw a wrench in it,” he mused and Bucky chuckled.

“Yeah, and Pepper would be real happy with that,” he drawled and Tony cringed.

“Good point.”

~

After a really nice morning wakeup involving slowly drifting awake to the realization he wasn’t having a dirty dream, but that his ‘dream’ was very much real life, Bucky didn’t feel like bothering to drag himself out of the bed. He laid sprawled out on his stomach, idly checking through the photos of people he followed (that Pepper couldn’t know about) for a while after Steve had left to go get a shower. He was still doing so when Steve came back, wearing only sweat pants, scrubbing at his hair with a towel with one hand while his other carried a mug.

Bucky moaned when he smelled the aroma of coffee as Steve passed and reached out a hand, making a grabby motion, until Steve rolled his eyes and handed it over. Bucky took a sip and hummed happily as he handed it back. “Yum,” he said and Steve chuckled before taking a sip of his own. He let the towel hang around his shoulders as he stopped in front of the window, looking out at the skyline. 

“Crazy to think _this_ is where we live, isn’t it?” Steve asked, smiling as he turned back to look at Bucky. “Never in a million years would me and you have ended up somewhere like this, and yet here we are.”

Bucky smirked and pulled up the camera on his phone. “Hey Steve.” Steve turned to him, mug almost to his lips, and Bucky snapped a picture. Steve groaned.

“ _Bucky_.”

“What?” Bucky asked, giving him the worst approximation of an innocent smile ever. “You’re shirtless, water dripping down your chest, and there’s coffee in your hand. Best ‘first pic of the day’ choice ever,” he said as he hit ‘post’. 

“You’re gonna get us in trouble eventually. I just know it,” Steve said as he came over to the bed. He sat down beside Bucky and Bucky moved to his knees to lean in and kiss Steve.

“Mmmm, you’re the one that brings the trouble, Punk,” Bucky accused, smiling when Steve followed his lips and kissed him again. Bucky groaned when Steve nipped on his lip, but pulled away. “You already took a shower, keep that up and we’ll just end up getting dirty again.”

“Don’t care,” Steve breathed, kissing him again. 

Bucky ducked away, putting a hand on Steve’s damp chest. “Yeah, well, if you don’t go do that thing for Pepper she’ll use it as an excuse to make me stop posting pictures, and I don’t like when Pepper’s mad at me, you know?”

Steve huffed, pouting. “You’re picking Pepper Potts over sex with me-“

“Only cause I already got some not even an hour ago,” Bucky cooed, patting his cheek playfully. “Sweetheart, some lovin’ from you can satisfy a guy for at least a few hours, you know?” he teased and Steve rolled his eyes but stood up. Bucky grinned. “Keep rolling your eyes like that, they’re gonna get stuck that way.”

“Ha ha,” Steve laughed sarcastically, though Bucky could see the playful glint in his eyes. “Fine. I’ll get dressed, you go get a shower, then I’ll go do the thing for Pepper.”

“Great!” Bucky said brightly. “Then when you get back, I can tell you all about what people think of you shirtless!”

“Joooyy,” Steve droned, grabbing up a shirt to take with him on his way out of the room.

~

It was always worst when Steve got hurt. 

It wasn’t often any of them got really injured, but when Steve got hurt, no matter how badly, Bucky just remembered shooting him in the gut and then watching him fall into the river all over again. 

This time Steve had been okay enough to come home, and Bucky didn’t waste any time before setting Steve up on the couch with a blanket, his tablet, and the remote to both the TV and stereo before going to make him something to eat. When he came back with some potato soup and a cup of water with lemon, he settled beside Steve and watched him like a hawk as he ate all his food. He didn’t go to put away the dishes when Steve finished, but rather he sat them aside and then curled himself around Steve, pulling Steve nearly into his lap. 

It was a real mark of how bad Steve was hurt that he just slumped down and rested his head against Bucky’s chest without even the tiniest complaint about being manhandled. Before long, Bucky had an armful of sleeping Steve. He kissed Steve’s head and held him close, clutching him tightly as he thought about how close he’d come to losing Steve that day. If the bullet had been just a little to the left, it would’ve pierced his lung and he could’ve died of internal bleeding before they could even find him collapsed in the middle of the fight. 

Super soldiers were enhanced, not invincible. Bucky just hoped Steve learned that lesson before it was too late.

~

“Buckyyyyy, come in the water,” Steve complained, swimming up between Bucky’s knees. The Avengers had all taken to Stark’s indoor pool for some reason that he assumed started with a bet, going by the alarmingly small speedo Barton was wearing, and he was the only one not getting in the water further than sitting on the side with his legs in. 

Bucky shook his head. “I like my shirt on. You know how I am about the scars, Steve,” he said in a low voice and Steve’s eyes softened.

“Bucky, nobody is going to stare at your scars,” he said gently. He rested his hands on Bucky’s knees, fingertips brushing under his shorts. “Have some fun with us.”

Bucky smirked and raised his phone to snap a picture. “Oh I’m having fun alright.” He hit ‘post’ and turned the phone around to show Steve how he was giving him a sappy look from between his knees.

Steve rolled his eyes and chuckled. “C’mere,” he said, tugging Bucky down into a kiss. Bucky hummed and then pulled back with a smack. “If you don’t wanna swim, we understand, but know we won’t judge you if you take off your shirt.”

“Hell, Barnes, have you seen me?” Clint asked, swimming past in a lazy backstroke. “I’m a giant mess of scars. Nat, too.”

Natasha splashed Clint as he passed her. “Don’t draw attention to the scars all over me, jerk. You’re the reason half of them are there. Saving your ass gets me stabbed way too often.”

Steve squeezed Bucky’s thighs then drifted away from him. “Besides, who doesn’t wanna see a gorgeous man like you all wet?” he asked with a flirty wink.

Bucky laughed and rolled his eyes, but nodded. “Fine, you win.” He got up and took his phone and his shirt to lay on the lounger next to where Pepper was reading a book while she dried off, then came back, arms awkwardly over his body before he jumped in. Even before he surfaced, Steve was wrapping his arms around him and pulling him into a hug. When they broke the surface, smiling at each other, Natasha splashed them both to complain about them being sappy while Clint whistled stripper music at Bucky’s naked upper half.

~

“And today the biggest news, the scandal of the year! Is Captain America gay?” Bucky looked up from the bowl of cereal in his lap and Steve sat up so fast he nearly fell off the couch. 

“How could they possibly-“ Steve was interrupted as Bucky shushed him when the woman kept talking.

“America’s favorite superhero, the idol of children everywhere, might just be gay, some are saying,” she said. “These allegations surface after the well-known account responsible for tons of photos of Steve Rogers, Captain America himself, taken from the perspective of what can only be his lover, posted this photo yesterday afternoon.” Bucky’s photo of Steve in the pool came up and Bucky raised an eyebrow.

“They figured you’re gay from that?” he asked curiously. “Is it Barton’s ass in the background?”

Steve didn’t get to answer before the woman started reading out tweets about the photo. “Here we have from ‘at’Susie-hates-fries, she tweets, ‘Oh my God, that’s a man’s legs in swim trunks in the photo, not a girl’s legs. Cap is gay’.” Bucky and Steve looked at each other, then Bucky groaned, dropping his head back against the couch. “There’s a few tweets along the lines of ‘maybe his girlfriend is just a hairy-legged feminist’-“

“Well that’s offensive,” Steve said, glaring at the screen.

“But for the most part, the consensus is that the person taking the photo, the person who has Captain America’s hands up the legs of their shorts, is most likely a man,” she finished, making a little quirky shake of her head. “Shocking news all around. We’re joined by Donna Clarke, a chairperson for parental rights activism group Media Matters-“

Steve grimaced. “Uh-oh.”

Bucky frowned. “Uh-oh?”

Steve nodded. “Call Pepper levels of ‘uh-oh’,” he said just as the Clarke woman began to speak.

“Well of course we’re all appalled at this terrible news, what a national tragedy we’re all suffering today.” Bucky’s jaw dropped. “Once again the left-wing media has corrupted a beloved American symbol to their ungodly liberal ways-“

“Are you shittin’ me?” Bucky blurted out and Steve just sighed heavily as he grabbed his phone and slumped down in his seat.

He barely had to wait for the first ring for Pepper to answer before grimacing. “Sooo we’ve got a problem.”

“You can’t go outside without the homosexual agenda being shoved down your throat-“

“Oh for fucks sake, lady!” Bucky cried, waving his spoon at the screen. “Only thing gonna be shoved anywhere is my foot up your-“

Steve winced. “A big one.”

~

Even with Pepper running interference, Steve still had to decide whether he wanted to officially ‘come out’ or not. In the end, he agreed to do an interview. One single interview. They still didn’t want to out Bucky being alive, since intelligence agencies were still after the Winter Soldier and his metal arm was a dead giveaway, but Steve agreed to give one sit down, full exposure interview.

Once all the clamoring agencies and journalists fought and clawed for the one interview, Pepper was kind enough to grant it to someone who had a little bit of an idea of what Steve was going through and chose to grant the interview to Anderson Cooper. Steve was relieved that it wasn’t someone who was going to go on the attack for ‘immoral lifestyle’ or ‘destroying family values’. Bucky was a little annoyed because he was pretty sure Steve had the hots for Anderson Cooper and didn’t like the idea of that handsome of a man hitting on Steve while he was vulnerable from the whole ‘coming out’ thing. He knew Steve wouldn’t ever make a move on somebody else, but that didn’t stop that silver-haired pretty-boy from flirting with Bucky’s man.

It was even worse when Bucky had to sit with all the others to watch Steve’s interview since Steve and Pepper had to field some calls while the episode aired the night after he’d given it earlier that day.

“Captain Rogers-“ he started, but Steve interrupted with his best, ‘nice, all-American boy’ smile.

“Oh please, call me Steve.”

Anderson Cooper smiled and nodded. “Steve, you’ve recently come under a lot of heat for a photo someone posted that’s leant to the suggestion that you may be in a relationship with another man. I guess the most obvious question is the first to ask. Are you in a relationship with another man?” he asked simply.

Steve gave a brave smile and nodded brightly. “Yes, I am.” He cleared his throat. “I’m- I’m gay, and I pretty much always have been.”

Anderson Cooper looked surprised. “Gay? Not bisexual?”

“No,” Steve said firmly. “I know all the stories that came up about me and Agent Peggy Carter from back then, but we really were just friends. People just liked their ‘hero with a girl waiting for him’ stories and she was the only woman I was around much.”

Anderson shuffled his cards, smiling. “Wow, I’ve got to say, that’s a surprise. Did anybody know? That wasn’t something that was very welcome back then.”

Steve made a face. “Well, nobody ‘knew’, but I’m pretty sure the USO girls I toured with when I was a dancing monkey for the government figured out I wasn’t lookin’, since they stopped making me leave the changing room before they all started changing around me,” he said with a playful chuckle. “A lot of guys would’ve loved to see what all I got to every night, that’s for sure,” he joked.

“Did you have someone back then?” Anderson asked, respectfully waiting and not pushing while Steve smiled and looked down at his hands.

“I was never with anybody, but…” Steve looked up with a content look. “There was a fella I had my eye on for a long time.”

Natasha poked Bucky in the back with her toes. “See? He was pining for you. Should’ve been a couple long before you were,” she said and Bucky shushed her.

“Is the person who takes the photos on that Instagram account your partner?” Anderson asked, and Steve nodded, grinning impishly.

“He’s tried several times before now to have an Instagram but he always got stopped by the PR people for Stark Industries and the Avengers. Now he’s restricted to no photos of anybody but me and no photos of anything at the Tower linking him to the Avengers. So he just takes pictures of me – mostly asleep – and posts them.” He rolled his eyes. “Everybody wants a boyfriend that takes pictures of you asleep, don’t they?”

Anderson laughed. “They’re good photos usually. At least he’s nice enough not to share photos of you drooling in your sleep,” he joked. “So how long have you been together?”

Steve sobered up a little. “Almost a year? Maybe a full year now. It was a few months after the whole ‘incident’ in DC. It was a long time coming though.”

“Oh?” he asked curiously. “Was he someone you knew from your time at SHIELD, or someone you met outside of life as Captain America?”

Steve smiled secretively. “Met him outside of all that stuff. I honestly wasn’t all that impressed with him at first, he was sort of a nerd, but turned out we both like baseball and had opinions that were pretty similar on a lot of stuff, and before I knew it, we’d end up meeting up at the same place at the same time and spending hours talking about things. Pretty sure if I wasn’t so blind I’d’ve been with him a lot sooner than a year ago.”

Anderson chuckled. “So you can’t give us any idea who he is? Nothing at all?”

Steve shook his head with an apologetic look. “I’m sorry, but it’s for his safety. I’d love to show off the great guy I’ve got in my life, but looking at Ms. Potts is a great example of what can happen if someone finds out you’re the person an Avenger is in love with. I don’t want him to be a target like she’s been in the past.” He snorted. “Hell, people have started on about the ‘you’re supposed to be a role model for kids’ stuff because I’m gay, I can only imagine the things they’d say about me if somebody took him and people saw how far off the rails I’d go.”

“I can imagine,” Anderson said, smiling to the camera. “When we come back, Captain Rogers is going to share a little bit about what it means to be a symbol of something he never wanted to represent. A reaction to the critics when we come back.”

When it went to commercial, Bucky flung his feet up onto the coffee table, sighing. “Yeah, that’s my Stevie, alright.” He shook his head. “Punk loves me and he’s far too stupid to risk somebody trying to hurt me cause of it.”

“Steve would go postal,” Natasha confirmed. “Steve doesn’t fear death, he fears somebody hurting Bucky. Anybody thinking about hurting Bucky must always fear Steve Rogers.”

Clint nodded seriously. “No shit. Also, that was really a creepy way to put it, Nat,” he said, kicking her in the side lightly. “Going all scary Russian on me.”

Pepper shrugged. “It’s sweet. Also, he’s leaving out the part where I killed the guy who was about to kill Tony. I’m not the damsel in distress in that analogy.”

Tony scoffed. “Pep, you were literally bait for me. You think I gave a damn about saving the president? That was Rhodey, I was only there for you, Honey,” he said, sliding his arm around her shoulders. He smirked. “You did kick the shit out of that creep, though,” he said proudly and Pepper leaned into his side with a contented look.

Clint looked around and sighed. “Ah shit, I’m the only single one. Man I need to get laid.”

Tony frowned. “Uh, no? Scary Russian and Big Green are both single-“

“For now,” Clint said, glowering at Natasha. Bucky raised an eyebrow at Bruce, who just shrugged, looking genuinely confused. Natasha just winked at Clint and turned back to the screen.

Bucky smirked, crossing his arms behind his head. “Now comes the fun part, when Steve gets to vent about the damn crazies using him as a symbol of shit he would never stand for. 

“Yesssss,” Clint whooped, stealing the popcorn from Bucky. “Let’s do this!”

~

The next morning Steve was eating breakfast while Bucky washed his dishes when JARVIS requested they come to the main floor urgently. They both were worried until they got there and Pepper was the only one in the living room. The others, they could all hear, were in the kitchen. “What’s wrong?” Steve asked, and Pepper grinned.

“Nothing’s wrong. You have a video call. I got the request through Maria Hill and when she explained, we set it up right away.” She looked at Bucky who nodded. 

“Gotta hide, got it.” He went around the other side of the screen and sat on the floor, watching Steve curiously.

When the call connected and the video feed popped up, Steve broke into a bright smile the minute he saw who was on the screen. “Holy crap, fellas!”

Dum Dum laughed at his expression. “Well, well, if it isn’t our old pal.”

Gabe shook his head, hand trembling as he wagged a finger at him. “You never write, you never call, it’s like you have no time for your old friends, Cap,” he teased.

Steve was at a loss for words for a moment as he took in the surprise of seeing his old friends. He’d learned when he awoke that the only of his old friends still living were Dugan and Jones, apart from Peggy, and he’d looked them up and written them some letters back and forth. He’d gone to visit Gabe when he heard about his grandson passing last year, but he’d only stayed for the funeral. Much like Peggy, it was hard to spend much time with his old friends when, in his mind, he remembered being the same age when, in reality, they had both lived long, full lives while he was frozen. 

“Oh man, the look on his face,” Gabe said, nudging Dum Dum in the leg with his cane even though they were both sitting. “Always made the best expressions, Cap.”

Steve chuckled, ducking his head sheepishly. “I’m gonna go out on a limb and assume you fellas watch the news,” he said and Dum Dum gave a smug grin.

“Oh if only you know how much money I won off Gabe here with that bet,” he said, and Steve gaped.

“You bet about me being gay?!” he asked in shock.

Gabe chuckled softly. “Jim always swore up and down he saw you and Stark necking one night and I thought it was his drunk ass imagining things, but Dum Dum started a bet-“

“You and _Stark_?!” Bucky blurted out, unable to stay quiet as he gaped at Steve.

Steve flushed, only to freeze, Pepper stilling behind him, when he realized there was no way the others missed Bucky’s voice. He turned back to the screen, and Dum Dum exchanged a shocked look with Gabe, only to burst out laughing uproariously.

“You owe me another hundred!” he proclaimed, and Gabe shook his head, smiling in disbelief.

Steve looked over the screen at Bucky, who was frozen, then back at the screen. “Uh… another hundred?”

Dum Dum sighed. “Pal, unlike your lazy ass napping away the rest of the century, I spent decades with the CIA. I’m a hundred and three, not stupid,” he said flatly. “I still have a few contacts and when rumors started spinning that the Winter Soldier was our old pal Barnes, I figured if he was anywhere, it was following you around, like always.”

Gabe gave him a disbelieving look. “And you got that call from Peggy you wouldn’t talk about,” he accused and Steve frowned.

“Call from Peggy?” he asked curiously, looking up at Bucky, who was pale as he looked into the distance unseeingly. “Buck?”

“She told me the strangest story,” Dum Dum continued. “About how she could’ve swore she was having a good day the night the ghost of Bucky Barnes came to visit and sat around beside her bed to question her about you and how you knew him not even a week after that whole ordeal in DC a year or so ago.”

Bucky swallowed hard, looking up at Steve. “I- I’d forgot until now,” he breathed. He came out from his hiding spot and his stomach twisted as he saw them. It was crazy to think those old men – and they were sure old, Dugan wasn’t kidding about being one hundred and three – were the same ones he remembered from the war. He sat down beside Steve nervously and waved his metal hand. “Hiya, fellas.”

Gabe smirked. “Even in the crazy ass future, you’re still followin’ Cap around everywhere he goes, huh, Barnes?”

Bucky smiled nervously. “Well, that’s been where I belonged since the day this skinny little punk grabbed me and dragged me off into his world of trouble,” he said, giving Steve a tender smile.

“Well that sure explains why you two always shared a tent now, huh!” Dum Dum said with a near-frightening leer. “You dog, Rogers-“

“I thought you said something about Stark,” Gabe interrupted, and Bucky huffed.

“Yeah, about that,” he said, giving Steve a playful glare. “ _Stark_?”

“Why do I hear my name being repeated?” Pepper stood from her spot in the corner to go stop Tony, but he was already walking in before she could. “Yes, hello, who are you talking to and why are you talking about me Robocop?”

No sooner than Tony stopped behind the couch and looked at the screen did Dum Dum chuckle. “Not, you, Son, we’re talking about your old man making time with Cap here-“

“It was one time!” Steve defended, blushing bright red. Bucky raised an eyebrow at him and he squeaked. “A kiss! One kiss one time! You know I didn’t- I never- Howard kissed _me_.” He groaned, putting a hand over his eyes. “He was drunk and I offered to take him back to his barracks and he grabbed me and laid one on me. That was it.”

Tony gaped. “Oh _no_! My dad’s creepy Cap obsession was a _crush_!” he said in a horrified tone. “Oh no, it’s worse than I could’ve thought. Oh God, Steve, _my dad_?!”

Steve glared, blushing still. “No,” he said firmly. “It was only ever Bucky, your dad was just drunk.”

Bucky smirked, sliding his arm around Steve’s shoulders. “Can’t say I blame ‘em. You’re a gorgeous fella and he was so rich he would’ve gotten out of any trouble come from it. Hell, I nearly threw caution to the wind too all them cold nights in our tent,” he said, winking at Steve.

Steve ducked his head. “You know I wasn’t interested in Howard, Buck, he wasn’t you,” he said bashfully.

“Awww that’s the sappiest thing I ever heard,” Gabe said, chuckling as he nudged Dum Dum. “Say, they better hurry it up with the wedding. We sure as hell ain’t gonna be around forever.”

Bucky hummed, looking at Steve. “Ya know, I never even thought about it. We should definitely get married.”

Steve spluttered. “You wanna get _married_?!” he squeaked, eyes wide.

“Wow, least romantic proposal ever,” Pepper said from where she was trying to coax Tony into going away. “Also, you can’t, because then we’d have to tell the world Bucky’s alive.”

Bucky pouted at her. “But _Pepper_ -“

“Hey now, you wanna dash the hopes of a couple of hundred year old men over there?” Gabe said, and he and Dum Dum made sad faces through the screen at her.

Pepper rolled her eyes. “Do you know what kind of international incident-“

“But Pepper… we’ve been in love for seventy years,” Steve tried, giving her his most innocent, sad eyes. “You don’t believe in love?”

“Yeah, Pep, look at all the sad old men!” Tony tried, smirking. “Don’t belittle their love!”

Pepper sighed, rubbing at her temple. “I hate all of you so much sometimes, and I don’t care how unprofessional that is, I really do.”

Steve’s face morphed into an impish grin. “Yay, we’re definitely getting married now!” he said, and Bucky high fived him with a matching smirk.

“Hell yeah we are.”

~

On the off chance that nobody would notice the marriage records, they kept Steve and Bucky’s marriage a secret. They brought very few guests to the tower for the wedding, and it was a very small affair. 

Unsurprisingly, though, the news did, in fact, get out that marriage records showed that Steven Grant Rogers and James Buchannan Barnes got married. In fact, the news broke overnight while Steve and Bucky were asleep so that, in the morning, Pepper calling them and emailing them links to press release options was what woke them up. 

“I’m serious, we have to get on this fast. Since it was outed that Bucky is alive, the CIA has already ‘leaked’ that he’s the same man from DC. If we don’t get on this early and have it under control, public opinion might go either way. We need to play up the hero brought back from-“

Bucky groaned, grabbing the phone right out of Steve’s hand. “Okay, I’ve got this,” he said, hanging up on her before throwing Steve’s phone. Steve gaped at him in surprise and Bucky glared. “It’s six o’clock the morning after our wedding night, I’m going back to sleep for another two hours at least, then we’re having ‘first day as husbands’ sex, I do not have any room for shits to give about this junk.” Bucky rolled over, grabbed his phone off the bedside table, then rolled back over and flopped closer to Steve. He tugged until Steve laid his head on his shoulder, both of them looking while Bucky scrolled through his alerts for the morning.

When he finished, he opened the app and smirked as he started recording. “Yes, I’m alive, yes, I’m the guy from the thing, no I’m not HYDRA, and yes, me n’ Stevie got married yesterday, which means I’m way too tired for this right now. I’ve got this gorgeous fella naked in bed with me, do you really think I give a fuck what you people think of me?” he asked, and Steve laughed against his shoulder and held up his hand with his ring on it. 

Bucky shuffled until his arm was free and showed his ring on his right hand – since a ring wouldn’t stay on his left – and the video ended with their hands with matching rings held up to the camera.


End file.
